A Perth businessman who gave up city life for the beaten track has finished his marathon 12,000-kilometre trek across Australia with his six camels and dog, in the West Australian Midwest town of Geraldton.
John Arthur Elliott said he could not wait to put his feet up after a life-changing trek, traversing seven Australian deserts.
"I'm not moving anywhere for a little while. We've moved house about 850 times," he said.
However, Mr Elliott said finishing his journey, which started in 2019, was bittersweet.
"Very mixed feelings. It's been a big, long trip. I'm leaving this trip while I still love it," he said.
Purpose in his stride
Originally, he planned to walk across Australia, but a health scare gave him a clear purpose to pursue the conquest.
"The trip started without too much of a why, without too much of a reason, until I went to my local GP."
"I was getting a check-up to make sure I was OK to go and walk through the middle of the desert, and they found a melanoma in the centre of my back," he said.
The melanoma scare was enough to push him to his limits.
"It was several times I was unsure if we were going to make it to the end," he said.
We got caught in snow storms on the top of Mount Skene and got caught in the bushfires in Brindabella. We even fell off a cliff."
Mr Elliott used his expedition to partner up with the non-profit organisation Skin Check Champions to raise awareness about skin cancer.
Upon Mr Elliott's arrival in Geraldton, a skin check clinic was set up to celebrate the end of the cameleer's journey, he said.
Skin Check Champions, Chief Executive Officer Scott Madds said the partnership with John had helped save lives.
"John has been helping spread the word about being checked. Along the way, he has helped so many Aussies to get checked and saved a whole heap of lives, which is amazing."
"He's managed to raise well over $60,000 just from people he's met over the way, wanting to support the cause," he said.
Mr Madds said the money raised had been used to improve access to health services in regional Australia.
"A lot of the towns John has visited don't have the availability of skin care specialists to come out and provide free educational skin checks," he said.
Where to next?
While trekking through the wonders of the Australian landscape, Mr Elliott had the opportunity to take stock of his position in life.
"You can't help but have your perspective changed. I suppose coming out of the corporate world, my view on humanity was a little bit transactional.
"But after being hosted and greeted and looked after by communities and people, my view on humanity is peaking now," he said.
While Mr Elliott has pulled up stumps in the Midwest for the next few weeks, He said he was looking forward to going home.
"The bags will be put down, and I'll be sitting back and probably be putting my feet up in Geraldton and enjoying it," he said.
Mr Elliott said his six camels would be retiring on a farm in the country.
